


Enter the Matrix

by Witchgirl1234



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 14:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13766145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witchgirl1234/pseuds/Witchgirl1234
Summary: Sara is too afraid to ask Ava out until she is faced with the possibility that she may never get the chance.Not sure if these apply, but just in case: T/W for character death and potential panic attack.





	Enter the Matrix

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from c4lyps013  
> During a mission with the legends, Ava will be hurt, Sara worried discover her feelings for Ava.

So it was official, nearly every member of the Legends had told Sara that she should ask Ava out, but she somehow couldn't bring herself to do it.

Every time they called each, which seemed to be happening less and less often the more that she made excuses, Ava looked so beautiful and the captain found herself imagining what a date with this woman would mean. She couldn't help but think that it would mean love, marriage, maybe kids? And that would mean that she couldn't be a Legend anymore, right? It's not like she would want Ava to stay at home while she traveled through history.

Sara blew out a growl of frustration and eyed her mug of coffee for a moment. She knew that it was only 10 am, but she seriously considered asking Gideon to add a little vodka to it.

"Hey," someone said, stopping her from further considering the option.

Sara looked up to see Zari grabbing a cup of coffee and she frowned when she realised that she hadn't heard the totem-holder come in.

"Earth to Sara," Zari said as she waved her hadn't and came over to take a seat next to her, "did you hear what I just said?"

The blonde shook her head and replied, "sorry, I guess I was preoccupied."

"You've been very spacey lately, captain," Zari said after she took a sip of her coffee, "I asked if you was okay?"

Sara just nodded unconvincingly.

"You know, Gideon told me that Ava hasn't called in two weeks?"

The captain scowled at the ceiling as if the whole ship was Gideon, before she looked back to Zari and shrugged, "nothing has changed with Rip or Mallus, so she doesn't need to call me…"

Zari quirked an eyebrow and Sara rolled her eyes. She was honestly surprised how easily this woman had integrated into their strange little family lately, she was beginning to become like the rest of the team who didn't need to say anything to convey their judgement of the mess that was her love life.

"Okay…so I tried a couple times to ask her out, but it didn't come out properly and it's too late now anyway," the blonde shrugged, "plus, if she was interested, she would have asked me out."

"She probably did and you came up with an excuse, right?"

"I didn't realise that I ordered an interrogation with my coffee," Sara shot back and Zari just laughed.

"I didn't come in here to interrogate you, I came to tell you that Ava is waiting for you to join the team meeting," Zari replied.

Sara's eyes widened. It may have been only two weeks since she had seen Ava's face on the screen, but she hadn't seen her in person since the Beebo mission. The bureau had been assigning random agents to deal with their mess ups and Sara had assumed that Agent Sharpe was too superior to be sent by the director to babysit the Legends. But it must have finally been her turn?

Sara swallowed thickly and she looked down at herself as she tried to remember what she had chosen to wear that day, tight jeans and a tank top, she actually looked okay.

The totem-holder downed the rest of her coffee and rose to her feet, "I'm sure your girlfriend will think you look beautiful, captain."

The captain just scowled and followed Zari silently to the main control room.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting when she saw Ava since their last awkward conversation, but for some reason, she felt like she had been punched when she saw the agent standing with her hands behind her pristinely pressed blazer with her hair once again done up tightly in a bun. She looked much more like the woman who she had instantly hated, rather than the the one she had realised that she had thought she might have feelings for after she had broken protocol for the Legends.

"Captain Lance," Ava said, with her facing showing no emotion, "Director Bennett has asked me to brief your team on a Level 11 anachronism that he wants your team to fix."

"The Time Bureau wants us to fix a level 11?" Nate asked, very much oblivious to the apparent tension between Ava and Sara. The team may have been very aware of the potential of a relationship between them, but that didn't mean that they all understood the significance of Ava's choice of hair style and stance.

"Your team has proven recently that you are not incapable of doing things correctly, so consider this a chance to be released from your short leash," she replied without turning back to look at him, but she was adamantly refusing eye contact with Sara.

Sara looked over to Zari who just shrugged to tell her that she wasn't quite sure what was going on with the woman either and she decided that this was something that she could figure out when she wasn't surrounded by every member of her team.

"Okay, what's the mission?" Sara asked, donning her 'captain's voice' to try and match Ava's professionalism.

"Leonardo Da Vinci has landed himself in 1962 New York," the agent replied, finally looking at the captain of the Waverider and Sara was sure that she saw a muscle in her jaw jump, though she otherwise looked exactly as she had the first time she had met her.

"At the height of the Cold War," Nate supplied, "if either side got to him they could potentially use him to create something worse than the Nuclear bomb."

"Or engineering would be set back centuries if he is not returned to his own time," Agent Sharpe finished.

"Okay, so we just grab him and take him back," Sara shrugged, "what's the big deal?"

"He is being held in prison for disorderly conduct after he freaked out," Ava replied, "your team will need to find a way to get him out without anyone suspecting who he could be."

Sara nodded and shrugged pretty standard, "sounds fairly standard."

"One more thing, Director Bennett has ordered me to follow your team on the mission and send back a detailed report," the agent said and she sounded actually annoyed at the prospect.

Sara frowned at her and she felt slightly hurt again. Maybe Ava didn't have a crush on her if spending time with the team was such a chore?

"Okay," Sara said again, this time hoping that the hurt was coming through in her voice.

s

The mission went fine until it didn't.

They got Da Vinci out of holding no problem by getting Ray to be pretend to be a lawyer and Zari managed to sneak into the records and destroy any evidence that a man claiming to be Leonardo Da Vinci had ever been in holding.

However, on the way back to the ship, with a now unconscious Da Vinci in Mick's arms for reasons that Ava had very much disapproved of, Damien Dhark and Nora decided to show their very unwelcome faces.

"I'm afraid that I can't allow you to take him home," the man with the white hair said sternly like he was discipling a child, "we need him."

"Mick, get him back to the ship," Sara ordered.

Heatwave did as he was told with no question and then Sara wasn't quite sure what happened next. Fights with Dhark were always chaotic and he had few missionaries with rifles with him this time.

Thanks mostly to Zari and Amaya the team managed to stand their ground; but everything seemed to go wrong in just a couple seconds.

Sara heard someone shouting her name, but she didn't have time to register who it was as she felt herself being pushed aside. Her body fell to the ground and she felt a crack at the back of her head. The captain let out a ragged breath and looked around to see what happened.

She got her answer as the sound of a rifle filled her senses and she looked to where she had just been standing to see Ava in her place, the bullets meant for Sara ripping through her stomach before she fell to the ground.

The blonde was vaguely aware that her mind wanted to shout Ava's name, however, nothing happened as darkness overtook her mind and she finally gave into unconsciousness.

s

"Ava!" Sara shouted as she shot up.

The blonde took a couple deep breaths when she realised that she was in the med bay. It became immediately clear that the team must have somehow found a way to fight the Dharks off and get her back to the ship, and she found that she wasn't too worried about the how, she was more concerned if they had brought someone else with her.

Sara's eyes fell onto an unconscious woman laying in the bay next to her and she let out a breath that was half relief and half concern.

At least Ava was here under Gideon's care and not laying in a bloody heap somewhere. However, that was where the relief ended.

Someone appeared to have taken off the woman's blazer and shirt, which left her only in a sports bra, with her entire stomach covered with a bandage. Under different circumstances, Sara would have taken a moment to look at the woman's muscular arms which she had never seen before, but she determined that was something that she could hopefully focus on later.

"Gideon," she called, with her voice still raspy and she wondered how long exactly she had been out.

The AI didn't need anymore instruction as she replied, "good morning, captain, I have placed Agent Sharpe in a medically induced coma. I'm afraid that she had lost a significant amount of blood, but I have been able to heal the wounds in her stomach and there appears to be no lasting damage to any of her organs."

"How long will she be out for?" Sara asked, stepping up so that she was now beside the bed. She wanted to place her hand on Ava's but there was a voice in her mind telling her that the woman was not her girlfriend.

Gideon remained silent for about ten seconds as if she was thinking about what she was about to say and Sara felt a pit forming in her stomach as she considered what that could mean.

"Gideon," she said again, this time her voice was more shaky than raspy, "when will she wake up?"

"As I said captain, Agent Sharpe has lost a significant amount of blood, I calculate a thirty per cent chance that…"

"That she will ever wake up?" Sara asked in disbelief. This could not be happening, Gideon could fix anyone, right? (She tried not to include Martin in that).

"That is correct captain, and the probability decreases the longer she remains in this state."

Sara began to shake her head adamantly as if this would mean that the super computer was wrong, "that can't be right, Gideon, there has to be something we can do. We could go to the future and find some kind of miracle cure or something."

"You know that a high ranking member of the Time Bureau would never approve of this course of action, Captain," Gideon replied, sounding very solemn and Sara couldn't help but be reminded of her father's voice when he had told her what happened to Laurel. She had been sure that there was nothing that would ever be even close to the level of pain she had felt in that moment, but she was now learning she was wrong.

"She can't die, Gideon!" Sara said, her voice getting dangerously close to shouting, "I didn't get to ask her out…and we didn't need her to even come on this mission…"

"Believe me, Captain Lance, Ava did not want to come on this mission," Gideon replied.

"What do you mean?" Sara asked, she could feel her breath come out ragged and she was sure that she was close to a panic attack as her mind worked through all of the possible ways that she could prevent this from happening without messing up time.

"Since you rejected her offer in the Time Ship, Agent Sharpe has been trying to avoid your team. The moment that she boarded the ship, it was clear to me that she would rather be anywhere than in the same room as the woman who does not like her back," the AI replied.

Sara's face fell. Did Ava think that her crush was one-sided? Could that be why she had not been the one to ask her out? Suddenly, Sara felt like a complete and utter idiot. She had been so afraid of a potential future of happiness with this amazing woman and now there was a 70% chance that she had missed the opportunity?

"No, Gideon that's not right," Sara began to say very frantically, "you have to make her better so that I can ask her out."

A high pitched screeching sounded filled the med bay and Sara's hand now grabbed Ava's on instinct when she realised what the sound meant. Ava was flat lining.

"Gideon!" Sara shouted, but heart monitor was the only thing making sound in the med bay.

The blonde's breaths came out raggedly now as she searched Ava's face for any sign that this was not happening, but she found that she looked oddly peaceful.

"No," she cried, "you don't get to be dead, Sharpe," Sara said firmly, "you don't get to leave me."

With that, she brought one of her hands over the other and began pumping on the woman's chest, which caused the heart monitor to start beeping every time she pushed, which ignited hope in Sara's chest. However, when she stopped pumping to blow some air into the agent's mouth, the heart monitor continued to flat line.

"I'm afraid that your efforts are ineffective, my apologises," Gideon announced.

A cry ripped through Sara and she was was suddenly very aware that there were tears streaming down her face. Her attempts to blow breath into the woman's mouth began to turn into a kiss and the coldness of the agent's lips only caused her to cry more.

"Please," she cried, "Ava please."

A bright light burst through the room and Sara felt herself suddenly lying down once again in the med bay. She looked to her side, still aware of the tears on her cheeks and she saw that there was no one in the bay next to her.

Had she passed out when she was crying over Ava's body?

"Captain Lance," someone said in front of her.

Sara sighed and refused to look away from the empty bed, where had they taken Ava? Did her family know what happened? Did she even have any family?

"Captain Lance," the voice repeated.

"I'm fine Gideon," she sighed.

"You are aware that it is polite to maintain eye contact when talking?" the British voice asked.

Sara frowned and turned to the source of the sound. She knew for a fact that it was Gideon's voice, but there was also a woman standing at the the end of her bed looking at her with a hint of a smirk. It didn't take long for her to realise that this had been the physical form of the AI that she had seen in Rip's mind.

"Did I finally have a mental breakdown?" she asked as she pushed herself into a seating position and covered her face with her hand.

"More like a minor concussion, captain," the AI replied, "forgive the drama, but I believed that this was the perfect opportunity to show you something."

Sara frowned and brought her hand away from her face. She remembered what Zari had told her about the repeating hour, was Gideon trying to teach her a lesson now? If so, her grief stricken brain was not fast enough to catch up with what was happening.

"What are you talking about?" Sara asked.

Gideon tilted her head and walked over to sit on the bed that Sara had just seen Ava lay on, "head injuries take time to heal, captain, you have been unconscious for about 12 hours. Gun shot wounds, however, take only an hour or two."

Sara stared blankly at Gideon, who could practically see the gears turning in her head as she tried to figure out what she meant.

"Ava is…"

"Agent Sharpe is alive and well, if only exhausted. Though, I am sure that her blood pressure will not go down until you have woken up."

"She's…still on the ship…" Sara said slowly, more of a statement than a question.

"As I told you in the simulation, captain, Ava Sharpe is well and truly infatuated with you. Not even her perceived sense of rejection is enough to drive her away until she knows that you're okay."

"Ava is here and alive," Sara repeated to herself and suddenly the whole in her stomach felt like it was filling with a mix of excitement and anxiety.

Gideon laughed.

Sara was about to look back at her and tell her that she didn't have to do something so cruel, however, she found that there was no one on the bed and she was once again lying down in the bed.

She took a moment to try and take stock of what was real and what was not, before the feeling of despair that she had felt a few moments ago came rushing back and she knew what she had to do. She couldn't allow a fear of the future stop her from living the present that she wanted to.

It was for this reason that she practically jumped to her feet. She wasn't sure exactly where she was going but her feet were somehow leading her towards her target.

Ava was in the main control room pacing, with the rest of the Legends cluttered around, all with very worried looks on their faces.

The agent actually was only in a sports bra and Sara assumed that her shirt and blazer must have actually been ruined. However, without the bandage, she could see the remains of three already fading bullet shaped scars on her toned stomach.

The Legends seemed to all perk up when they saw their captain approaching.

"Sara," Nate called with a wide grin, looking like he was about to come over and give her a hug, but the blonde was distracted from this when Agent Sharpe turned around fully to look at her.

"Sara," she breathed, all sense of professionalism had appeared to go out of the window.

Said woman looked over the very much alive agent and she finished her long strides towards her. Without much warning, she placed her hands around her neck and attached her lips to the taller woman's.

Ava's hands instantly went down to the captain's waist, lifting her up slightly to accommodate the height difference and she seemed to forget that there was anyone else in her room as she allowed her lips to move against Sara's. However, there must have been a part of her that was slightly aware that they had an audience, as she pulled away when she felt Sara's tongue swipe across her lip. She had of course imagined this happening, but she had never once thought that she would want her first kiss with Sara Lance to be in front of her team.

However, she still remained closer to the blonde than she had ever been before and her hand seemed incapable of moving away from the woman's waist, just as Sara refused to remove her hand from Ava's neck.

"What was that for?" she whispered, still very much dazed and trying to figure out if that had actually happened.

"Gideon is a jerk," Sara replied, though the smile spreading across her face revealed that she was not truly angry at the AI. As traumatic as the experience had been, Sara knew her life of traumatic experiences meant that it took a lot to convince her to actually go for something.

Ava frowned and tilted her head, "am I supposed to know what that means?"

"I'll explain over dinner tonight," Sara replied and the agent's frown instantly turned into a giant grin.

"Yes!" Zari practically shouted as she raised her hands in triumph, "finally," she said and turned to the closest person to offer them a high five. Unfortunately, the closest person was Mick and he just shook his head and took another sip of his beer.

Zari pouted for a moment, but she used her other hand to give herself the high five.

"Congratulations, Miss Tomaz, you were quite correct," Gideon announced to the room.

Sara frowned and leaned past Ava so that she could look at Zari, though she had yet to release her, "this was your idea?"

The totem-holder cringed and nodded before she shook her head, "I just told Gideon to use my simulator, whatever she did was her idea…"

Ava looked thoroughly confused as Sara released her neck and placed her hand into her as she began to walk away.

"You can do my chores while I have dinner then," she called as she pulled Ava towards the library so that they could talk more.

Zari's shoulders slumped as Nate and Ray laughed at her, but she was still smiling broadly.

**Author's Note:**

> Please review, it always helps with motivation to write more :)  
> Also feel free to send any prompts to @withgirl-sq on Tumblr :)


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